sound of rain

Last night I was using my Activa and sleeping on my stomach and I woke up to the sound of rain hitting the side of the house. But, it wasn't raining. I noticed when I inhaled the sound got louder. So I thought it must be what they call rainout.

But, I live in the desert and the humidity is low here always compared to most other places. 30% during summer storms is high. Don't know what it was last night but it wouldn't have been very high.

I've been on CPAP since June and never heard that sound before.

There was no water in my mask.

So I dunno if it was rainout or what was making the noise. Sounded just like rain pelting the side of the house during a good storm. But it didn't rain.

Anyone else encountered this?

Hi AW,

Rainout is typically a fair amount of condensation in the hose or mask. It doesn't sound like you had rainout. Was there any moisture in the hose?

I use the activa, and get a small amount of condensation each night in the mask, but only a few drops, nothing to be bothersome. I never get any moisture in the hose.

I can think of two possible causes here.
1) The exhaust vents were blocked (since you were on your stomach) and the noise was caused by the exhaust air against the pillow/sheets, etc.
or
2) The mask was pushed enough sideways to get some minor leaking (blowby) around the seal. My activa if pushed far enough sideways will leak slightly around the seal, and it is generally a bubbling effect more than a flapping effect I get with other masks.

These ideas might be a stretch but they are all I can think of. But when you mention that it was louder when you inhaled makes me think of this: Perhaps the sound was from the PAP machine itself? (i.e. a fan bearing going bad or something?)

Hope this info might help in some way.

John

I didn't notice any moisture in either the mask or hose. I took the thing apart and cleaned it yesterday and last night it was quiet as usual.

No rain sound.

I too had wondered if it might be a machine problem but since it disappeared last night, I guess not.

It was really strange. It sounded for all the world like rain hitting the side of the house and seemed to be relatively loud but got louder during the inhale cycle so I'm pretty sure it was something with the machine / mask.

I don't think blocked vents were a problem because I have the mask hanging over the edge of the pillow.

Just one of those things I reckon.

The wonder world of CPAP.

AZ-Willie:

I had this happen to me, and it took me awhile to investigate that strange sound.
In my case, I had over-filled the humidifier, and it was 'gurgling' like crazy!

No rainout, but a strange sound indeed. You may want to check to see if that's the reason.

Good luck!

Arizona-Willie wrote:Just one of those things I reckon

Was your mask under the sheets when you heard that sound?